Buoyant propeller



BUOYANT PROPELLER.

I (No Model.) ZSheet-Sheet 1.. n. w. oan.

' No. 438,815. Patented-Oct. 21, 1890.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. D. W. LORD.

BUOYANT PROPELLER. I No. 438,815. Patented 00t. 21, 1890.

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Jam MW v V i 4% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DANIEL w. LORD, or MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUOYANT PROPELLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 438,815, dated October 21, 1890.

Application filed August 3, 1889- Serial No.319,641. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL W. LORD, residing at Malden, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buoyant Propellers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to propellers for vessels and the method of operating the same, and is especially intended as an improvement in what are known as buoyant propellers.

The object of the invention is to produce a buoyant propeller with open buckets or receptacles, from which the water is excluded wholly or in part by air-pressure, and to utilize the air-pressure as well as the movement of the propeller, so far as may be, in the pro- .pulsion of the boat.

Figure 1 is a plan of a boat, showing generally the arrangement of buoyant wheelpropellers with relation to other parts. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of boat. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a wheel-propeller, partly broken away and showing air-trunk and connections. Fig. at is a section through wheel and airtrunk. Fig. 5 are details ofbuckets or compartments in the wheel.

The letter (1. indicates the hull of the boat, which by preference lies between the propeller-wheels at its forward portion, the stern of the hull only being intended to rest on the water, and the bottom of this stern portion being formed to pass easily through the water. Any form of rudder or steering-gear b may be used.

The buoyantpropellers c are connected by a driving-shaft f, to which shaft the forward end of the hull is attached, so as to be supported above the water.

The hull may have a stem portion cl in front of the propellers, or this may be omitted, and guards or stays a a will be used when needed. When the stem portion d is used, it will serve as a guard to break the crest of the waves and will afiord flotation when the air is permitted to escape from the buckets in the wheels. When the stem d is omitted, the body of the hull will rest in the water whenever the air is permitted to escape from the buckets.

The buoyant propellers c are represented as wheels having open buckets or compartments e, extending from near the central shaft f to the periphery of the wheel. The buckets or compartments are thus of wedge form, open at the outer end. The partitions g, which separate these compartments, preferably have small apertures, notches, or cutaway portions, as h h h near the periphery of the wheel. The ends of the wheel proper are composed of disks 2' 1' and by preference a disk 2" separates the chambers e from each other in the direction of the length of the wheel-shaft to prevent side oscillation. One of the end disks i of the wheel is perforated at 70 near the shaft, there being one opening for each bucket 6. The buckets e do not communicate with each other, save as above described, by passages h. An air-trunk on near the shaft covers the apertures in disk 4? of such buckets as are in the water atany one time. This air-trunk has a single opening 0, which communicates with the adjacent bucket e, and by a pipe 8 communicates also with the compartment or bucket e toward the outside of the wheel. This opening 0 may be closed by a valve 10, operated by handle q or by a cook or valve in the supplypipe. The outer end of each wheel is preferably strengthened by a conical plate i which forms a water-tight chamber 6 at the end of the wheel.

The air-truck m is preferably segmentshaped, and is supportedabout the shaft f, so that it may be rocked on said shaft, as by handle 10, thus varying the position of the opening 0. Air is conveyed to the trunk by a flexible or jointed pipe 25 from any suitable compressor or source of air-supply, as at a. The air-trunk serves as a convenient means of connecting the air-supply pipe with the buckets of the moving wheel and can be rocked to any position to feed the air to the buckets at any point between their entering and leaving the water. The air-trunk makes a close joint against the wheel, and the rotation of the wheel serves as a cut-off to prevent the backflow of air. The valve may act as a cut-01f when the wheel is at rest. Air may be fed to one or more buckets at the same time, according to the position and size of the air-passages.

The weight of the structure tends to sink the wheels in the water. As the mouths of the buckets are open, the water would enter such buckets as present their mouths to the water were it not for the air confined in the buckets. By compression this confined air loses some portion of its volume, which loss I make good from outside the wheel through the supply-pipe. As the wheel rotates and the buckets rise from the water, the air under pressure in the buckets prevents suction and the lifting of water by the wheel, and by its pressure aids in the propulsion of the boat in some degree.

The wheels 0 may be rotated by suitable power applied to shaft f, or the boat may be driven directly by a Wheel, screw, or other propelling device acting independently, leaving the wheels c free to rotate and support the boat'bytheirbuoyancy. f

I have described the wheels 0 as forming the buoyant'supports or propellers; but these are merely a form of propeller which may be used; Buoyant propellers have been made on the principle of the screw and as endless belts,'and perhaps other forms. WVhere the action'of'snch canbe improved by feeding compressed air between the'propelling-surface and the water I consider my invention applicable to them and do not'desire to limit myself strictlyto the wheel. The openings h or h nearthe outer ends'of the'bucke'ts permit the escape of air until the bucket has been submerged to the depth of this opening"in the partition. The object of this is'to permit the escape of air, which might otherwise bubble out and'cause commotion in the waterin its effort to escapecompre'ssion. The openings h are not indispensable,'but are "believed to conserve economyin the use ofpower'.

The bearings by which the hull is attached to shaftfwill be of such character as to permitthe rotation of this shaft with littlefriction. The Wheels maybe covered with suitable boxes.

The compressed air will be supplied from a suitable reservoir or directly from" a compressor, and suitable valves willbe arranged to control the air supply and pressure. Other gaseous fluids may be used instead of compressed air. It will be understood that I do not confine myself to the number of wheels or propellers to be used, nor to the number or shape of the buckets in the propeller. The wedgeshape is a desirable form for the buckets; but other forms may be used.

WVhat I claim is- 1. A buoyant propeller having a bucket opening into the water and means for supplying a gas under pressure to said bucket, in combination, substantially as described.

2. A buoyant propellerhavingopen-mouthed buckets, means for supplying gas under pressure to said buckets, and a cut-off acting to retain the air in said buckets.

3. The method of maintaining the buoyancy of an open bucket in a propeller, which 1 consists in conveying gas under pressure to said bucket and retaining the gas in said propeller.

4. The combination, with the hull of a boat, of a buoyant propeller havingopen-mouthed buckets, a reservoir for compressed gas in bucket until released by the movement of the the boat, and connections,substantially as arranged radially and having apertures'h' or t 71. extending through the mouth of the buckets. i

8. The buoyantwheel described, having open-mouthed buckets, the air-supply pipe, and means for shifting the supply-pipe so partitions near the that it will communicate to thebuckets at varying points in the rotation of the wheel, combined substantially as described.

9. The buoyant wheel described, having open-mouthed buckets and'having a chamber for confined air at the side of the buckets, substantially as described.

' 'In testimony whereof 'I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL w. LORD.

Vitnesses:

V. A. BARTLETT, T. W. JoHNsoN. 

